Social Care
Where do councils fit into the NHS plan?
Last week’s publication of the NHS Long Term Plan signals a fundamental shift towards community-based services and a focus on reducing health inequalities. Michael Burton looks at its implications for local government
NHS long term plan only offers part of the solution
Chairman of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board Ian Hudspeth says until social care is fully funded and public health budget cuts reversed, pumping funding into the NHS continues to be the same as 'pouring water into a sink with no plug in it'.
Early intervention’s not enough without funding
There will never be enough money for the behemoth that is the NHS - and the real under-funding is in the local government services it so covets, according to Heather Jameson
Let's build on the positives of 2018
Director of the CCN Simon Edwards says that while the latest fair funding consultation is on a positive trajectory there is still a way to go to reset an opaque and unfair system.
Number of night-time hospital discharges increases
Rising numbers of elderly and vulnerable patients are being sent home from hospital at night despite calls to stop the practice, it has emerged.
Like Mariah Carey, it may be prudent to not want a lot for Xmas this year
Despite a number of minor successes, the position of the sector as it approaches the end of the year remains precarious, according to Abdool Kara
We need to talk about finance
Piali Das Gupta wants central Government, caught up with Brexit, to start paying attention to the voice of local authorities who argue that the practical needs of the people are not being met.
Confronting the graph of doom
Tracie Evans wonders if this is the right moment to remind everybody that 'we in the sector predicted in the graph of doom that 2019/20 would be the year when the money would start running out...'
Care Management Group sold for £200m
A care provider has been sold in a multi-million pound deal, with another company expected to be flogged in the coming months.
Future Forum North: 'Government still doesn't think sector is efficient'
Whitehall remains unconvinced that local government is as efficient as it can be, Smith Square’s deputy chief executive, Sarah Pickup, has said.
Sometimes the simplest questions are the hardest to answer
Asked what he thought the impact of Brexit would be on local government frontline services, Paul O'Brien was able to give an answer which sounded akin to the famous Donald Rumsfeld response about ‘known knowns and unknown unknowns'.
Don’t throw out the rule book with the bath water
Like all complainants, the Local Government Ombudsman is both a nuisance and an asset, but his latest message is clear, says Michael Burton: Don't lose the focus on the frontline.
Pay rises to swallow extra £650m for care
Councils hoping that the Chancellor’s Budget promised extra £650m for social care might ease some of the financial pain in the sector will be set in for an unpleasant surprise.
A tale of two cities
Martin Ford examines the results of different approaches to integration of health and social care in Nottingham and Manchester
Partnering up for care solutions
Health and social care workers are thin on the ground, so will a new digital tool aimed at making it easier to recruit them make a vital difference? Ann McGauran finds out
Allied Healthcare winds up council contracts
A major care services provider is winding up all its contracts with local authorities after the regulator warned it was about to go bust.
Fresh funding plea amid union pressure
Council leaders have refreshed their appeal for extra resources from the Scottish Government under pressure from unions over pay.
Brokenshire: 2019 will be turning point for local government
Next year will be a ‘turning point’ for local government, communities secretary James Brokenshire has told the County Councils’ Network conference, with the Spending Review and changes to the finance regime.
London leaders call for 'proper' debate on funding
Central Government needs to have a ‘proper conversation’ on public sector funding and put councils on a sustainable footing for the future, London Councils chair, Cllr Peter John, has told The MJ.
Brokenshire: We need to raise our game and get London building
Housing secretary James Brokenshire has criticised London boroughs after statistics showed a ‘mixed picture’ across the capital in the number of additional homes in 2017/18.